A Democratic Discord : An Implicit Right to Democracy and the Problem of Democratic Decision-Making

Abstract

This thesis locates an implicit human right to democratic governance in the requirements of the ICCPR and the ECHR. It discusses specific rights which, when taken in combination with one another, compose a right to democracy. It also uses these rights to construct a standard definition of democracy which reflects international human rights obligations. The second half of the thesis evaluates the tension between an international democratic entitlement and the national conceptions of democracy. The problem of bottom-up legislating conflicting with top-down requirements is discussed through the country studies of the United States and Norway.